Pig ears make it to my plate for restaurant week

I always wanted to start a column this way: "Eating pigs ears at a sidewalk table in Worcester on a pleasant, sunny afternoon?… "

This past week was restaurant week in Worcester. With all of the menu choices available at restaurants, one stood out to me above all others.

Armsby Abbey is a place where you can sample all kinds of cool beers, some way out of my price range, but all very tasty. After Wednesday, I will not recall it as much as a beer place, but where I tried pig ears.

OK. I understand the thought of pig ears might offend many of you, but these are not kitty ears. Kitty ears are smaller and cuter. Serving kitty ears would not make people happy. Even large cat ears would not make people happy. There is probably a law against it. If there isn't, there should be.

I tried the pig ears. I wasn't sure I would. There is a certain gag factor when something called "ears" is on the menu. When I looked at the menu online, my first reaction was to suggest it was something my wife should try and report back to me on. I figured that would be the safe way to do things. She did not get the pig ears, probably because they were PIG EARS. I had to give them a try. I couldn't help myself — curiosity. If you never try something, how can you write a column about it?

The only other time I had encountered pig ears was while wandering through a department store years ago. I noticed a barrel full of leathery triangular things. I can identify most things, but they were something new. I asked the clerk what they were and was told "dog chew toys." Then I looked more closely and realized they were dried pig ears. They apparently make good healthy chew toys — healthier than having your dog munch on the corner of your sofa. I bought a couple to give to my sister's dog for Christmas. My sister was not amused.

I love trying new things. I've tried frog legs, octopus, chocolate-covered ants, alligator, Bengal tiger steaks …?OK, OK. I did not eat a tiger. I would never eat anything endangered. I have never thought of buying rhino casserole or garlic and lemon Ivory Billed Woodpecker. I am a responsible person, more or less.

But I will happily try haggis some time. I've heard good reports of what is basically a disgusting-sounding dish. According to Wikipedia (the lazy man's dictionary), haggis is a savoury pudding containing sheep's pluck (heart, liver and lungs) minced with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices and salt, mixed with stock, traditionally encased in the animal's stomach and simmered for approximately three hours. It also noted it is served with neeps and tatties (You can figure out what those are. I'm not going there).

I find that encasing anything in a stomach makes it taste better. I am thinking even pig ears would be improved by that method.

Pig ears seemed acceptable for me to try. They were part of a pig, which is a regular farm animal. I wasn't causing extinction of the species. As far as I can tell there are a lot of pigs. (I know my good-hearted friends who eat only innocent plants will skewer me for saying this, but I grew up next door to my grandfather's farm, and meat is part of my legacy. I like meat.) We used to occasionally have squirrel stew growing up, and beef tongue. Beef tongue is exactly what it sounds like. In our family, squirrel stew included whatever else could be harvested from the wild and bits of lead shot we missed in preparing the dish. I remember a pheasant and squirrel stew we served to Boy Scouts that had so much lead, it lowered our IQs by 10 points.

What I will not eat is woodchuck, chipmunk, turtle and domestic pets, other than really irritating cats.

The pig ears were chewy, and the experience is now checked off my bucket list, but next time I will limit myself to the beer and veggies.

Contact George Barnes at gbarnes@telegram.com. Follow him on Twitter @georgebarnesTG.